"It may not be generally known, but a goodly number of the Jewish dwellers in the land are not anxious to see a large immigration into the country. This is partly due to the fear that the result of such immigration would be an overcrowding of the industrial and agricultural market; but a number of the more respectable older settlers have been disgusted by the recent arrivals in Palestine of their coreligionists, unhappy individuals from Russia and Romania brought in under the auspices of the Zionist Commission from the cities of Southeastern Europe, and neither able nor willing to work at agriculture or fruit-farming.
...the whole population will resist the Zionist Commission's plan of wholesale immigration of Jews into Palestine at the rate of one hundred thousand a year, until a total of three millions has been reached, which number they claim the country can support if cultivated to its utmost.
The existing Jewish colonists would protest at such an experiment; but the Mohammedan and Christian Arabs would do more than protest. They would, if able, prevent by force the wholesale flooding of their country by Jewish settlers whom they consider strangers and Europeans."
Zionist Aspirations in Palestine by Anstruther Mackay, as originally published in The Atlantic Monthly, July 1920.
The next waves of immigration came from the pre-World War II persecuted European Jews and the post-war displaced persons. In both cases, the Zionists in the British Mandate served admirably by providing a haven for fleeing Jews. If the British did not obstruct this immigration many more persons would have fled to the Mandate. However, there is no indication that all of these immigrants arrived specifically to create a Jewish homeland. Equal numbers fled to other countries, and of those who came to the Mandate, many came by default; the depression, World War II hostilities, restrictive immigration laws and post-war chaos limited their possibilities to immigrate to other established nations. Overlooked is the callous attitude of bringing displaced Jews who had suffered through the brutalities of World War II to another field of violence and an uncertain future. The displaced Jews had temporary safe havens in refugee camps. In 1947, these camps started to empty into North American nations that had revised immigration laws in order to admit the displaced persons.
The creation of Israel and displacement of the Palestinians prompted the Arab nations to examine their commitment to their Jewish citizens. The uncertainties facing them, due to the Israel/Arab conflict, impelled these citizens (Mizrahim) to leave their Middle East and North African homes and immigrate to Israel. Self-determination was an invite, but not necessarily the major factor. A by-product of the emigration from Arab lands has been the destruction of a strong Jewish history and presence in Baghdad, Cairo, Kairouan-Tunisia and other places. Areas that sustained segments of the Jewish people and enabled their survival for several centuries became a footnote to history.
Succeeding immigrations to Israel from Ethiopia (Falasha) and from the former Soviet Union were mostly due to economic reasons and less with sharing in the establishment of a Jewish homeland. The Falasha, who don't genetically identify with other Jews, were caught in a famine. Most of the Soviet immigrants preferred going to the United States, but were only permitted to go to Israel. Another large scale immigration of ultra-orthodox Jews arrived in Israel after the 1967 war. This group has been troublesome. Its unique customs separate it from secular Israelis and much of world Jewry.
Rather than integrating Jews into a compatible relationship of disparate co-religionists, Israel suppressed immigrant cultures and created a new Jew, the Israeli Jew. The government imposed artificial conditions, including resurrecting and revising the Hebrew language, to establish a specific identity and weave its Jewish citizens into a nation that negated previous identities. "Keeping trauma alive and constructing a whole identity around it is at the heart of mainstream Judaism."
"Ever since I can remember, we in Israel were told that Jews have nowhere else to go because the world didn't like Jews. Seventeen years ago, when my former husband and I were about to migrate to Australia, most of the people we knew were dismayed by our decision. I was told by many that I was making a big mistake. My father's heart surgeon for example, was in complete shock when he heard our news. He took me aside and said that he did not understand how I could leave; that he would never be prepared to live anywhere where there might be even one anti-Semite alive. Like many others he believed that Jews can only safely live in Israel"
Avigal Arbanel: The Charter of the Israeli State.
Israel's establishment united the scattered Mizrahim and other parts of world Jewry. Nevertheless, the Mizrahim, which includes the Sephardim Jews who trace their heritage to the Golden years in Spain before the Catholic Reconquest, have had their path in history halted; their heritage is becoming a fading memory. The Jews are now divided between the western, or Ashkenazi Jews, and the eastern, or Israeli Jews. The two Jewish worlds have little relation to one another from the immediate past, no common objectives in the present and no foreseeable common identification for the future.
History shows that a relative minority of Jews left their homes and immigrated to Israel as ardent Zionists. The Economist (Jan.11, 2007) mentions that only 17% of American Jews regard themselves as pro-Zionist and only 57% say that "caring about Israel is a very important part of being Jewish." The term 'Jewish nation' has never been adequately defined and Israel has not been accepted as being the definer of Jewish morality and culture or the creator of the Judaic atmosphere.
It is becoming difficult to clarify 'Who is an Israeli?' According to the Israel Statistical Abstract 2007, 1.875 million Israeli Jews are 2nd generation Israelis (those who have an Israel born father), which is not much more than the 1.4 million Israeli Arabs, most of whom trace their Israel ancestry back several generations. Israel's Arab nationality is almost equal to the Jewish nationality, if nationality considers at least two generations of native born Israelis and also considers that some of the 1.875 million 2nd generation Israelis live outside the nation. Jewish immigration to Israel has almost ceased, maybe 20,000 each year, and Jewish emigration from Israel has greatly increased. Many immigrants from the former Soviet Union have returned to Russia and Germany now has more than 100,000 Jews. Israel claims 5.4 million Jews, and officially admits 600,000 live outside the country. That statistic might be deflated – a figure of 1.5 million might be more accurate. Nevertheless, Israel behaves as if it speaks for world Jewry, but does not represent a major portion of the world's 15 million Jews.
By its Law of Return, Israel freely welcomes all Jews. The Israeli state calls all Jews to a land, but has not established a homeland to which a sufficient number of Jews are presently answering the call. So, if Israel has not become what it was intended, a homeland of the Jewish people, what is it?
Many arguments can define the status of Israel. Perceived from an Israeli viewpoint, it is a home for the Jewish people. Perceived from a Palestinian perspective, it is a land denied to the Palestinian people. To the Palestinians, the French who moved to Algeria, the Boers who moved to Africa, and the English who came to America were all considered settlers. The Israelis in the West Bank are considered settlers. The Jews in Israel are living on usurped Palestinian lands and Israel cannot entertain more Jewish immigration without seizing more Palestinian land, which it is doing daily. If most Jews arrived for mainly economic and political reasons and not specifically to be part of a Jewish homeland or to express self-determination, aren't they also settlers? Don't the facts allow a Palestinian perspective that considers Israel as a colonial enterprise?
The suffering due to occupation and a perspective of Israel as a colonizer drives the Palestinians to a war of liberation. Hope for success is enhanced by Israel's inability to accumulate a sufficient mass of world Jewry to labor for a Jewish homeland. Hopelessness that foresees failure is dictated by Israel's daily violent and cruel acts that grind the Palestinians into dust. Despite attempt to portray the conflict as a war on terrorism, the ferocity of the Israel campaign certifies it is fighting a liberation movement with tactics designed to completely destroy Palestinian life. Israel uses the most aggressive means to prevent a war of liberation from derailing its chosen destiny.
So, what could happen?
If Israel succeeds in destroying Palestinian life, everyone loses. The anticipated homeland for the Jews will continue to be an economic way station for some Jews, Israel will still confronted by antagonists throughout the Middle East and the Palestinians who nourished and tilled a land for centuries will be vanquished. The continued repression of the Palestinians to a final denouement will increase resentment and attacks against all Jews for eternity. If the Palestinians succeed in their liberation, not everyone wins. Expectations of a greater Israel will be crushed, but human life will not be crushed. Israel will no longer be able to pursue a homeland of the Jews, but that project has already caused several conflagrations and seems to be doomed to failure. Any chance for success will involve additional horrendous consequences to the Palestinians and probably the entire world.
Contrary to predictions, it is likely that a new democratic state that permits re-entry of Palestinians to their usurped lands and provides representation and equality for all of its citizens, Jew and non-Jew, will emerge. The Palestinian masses are not religious or political extremists and their attachment to Hamas is mainly due to Hamas' lack of corruption and to its welfare institutions. Jews who fear losing a majority status and envisage danger to their welfare might emigrate. Is that trade-off as punishing as the present arrangement of constant strife and probable extinction of the Palestinians? It is possible that many Palestinians will also exit the Holy Land; finally possessing a national identity and a national passport that enables them to emigrate.
If the Palestinians have a justifiable cause and are liberated, will the condition of the Jews in other nations, who are still the overwhelming main body of the Jewish politic, change appreciably? Hardly likely, except there will probably be less anti-Jewish feeling and less attacks on Jewish institutions. The condition of the Jews in Israel will change from a dominant position to a shared equal position. The world condition will change immeasurably for one simple reason; a major step to bring peace to the Middle East and reduce international terrorism will have been taken.
Dan Lieberman is the editor of Alternative Insight, a monthly web based newsletter.
In the last eight years, Dan has written many articles on the Middle East conflict, which have circulated on websites and media throughout the world.
He can be reached at alternativeinsight@earthlink.net
...the whole population will resist the Zionist Commission's plan of wholesale immigration of Jews into Palestine at the rate of one hundred thousand a year, until a total of three millions has been reached, which number they claim the country can support if cultivated to its utmost.
The existing Jewish colonists would protest at such an experiment; but the Mohammedan and Christian Arabs would do more than protest. They would, if able, prevent by force the wholesale flooding of their country by Jewish settlers whom they consider strangers and Europeans."
Zionist Aspirations in Palestine by Anstruther Mackay, as originally published in The Atlantic Monthly, July 1920.
The next waves of immigration came from the pre-World War II persecuted European Jews and the post-war displaced persons. In both cases, the Zionists in the British Mandate served admirably by providing a haven for fleeing Jews. If the British did not obstruct this immigration many more persons would have fled to the Mandate. However, there is no indication that all of these immigrants arrived specifically to create a Jewish homeland. Equal numbers fled to other countries, and of those who came to the Mandate, many came by default; the depression, World War II hostilities, restrictive immigration laws and post-war chaos limited their possibilities to immigrate to other established nations. Overlooked is the callous attitude of bringing displaced Jews who had suffered through the brutalities of World War II to another field of violence and an uncertain future. The displaced Jews had temporary safe havens in refugee camps. In 1947, these camps started to empty into North American nations that had revised immigration laws in order to admit the displaced persons.
The creation of Israel and displacement of the Palestinians prompted the Arab nations to examine their commitment to their Jewish citizens. The uncertainties facing them, due to the Israel/Arab conflict, impelled these citizens (Mizrahim) to leave their Middle East and North African homes and immigrate to Israel. Self-determination was an invite, but not necessarily the major factor. A by-product of the emigration from Arab lands has been the destruction of a strong Jewish history and presence in Baghdad, Cairo, Kairouan-Tunisia and other places. Areas that sustained segments of the Jewish people and enabled their survival for several centuries became a footnote to history.
Succeeding immigrations to Israel from Ethiopia (Falasha) and from the former Soviet Union were mostly due to economic reasons and less with sharing in the establishment of a Jewish homeland. The Falasha, who don't genetically identify with other Jews, were caught in a famine. Most of the Soviet immigrants preferred going to the United States, but were only permitted to go to Israel. Another large scale immigration of ultra-orthodox Jews arrived in Israel after the 1967 war. This group has been troublesome. Its unique customs separate it from secular Israelis and much of world Jewry.
"Ever since I can remember, we in Israel were told that Jews have nowhere else to go because the world didn't like Jews. Seventeen years ago, when my former husband and I were about to migrate to Australia, most of the people we knew were dismayed by our decision. I was told by many that I was making a big mistake. My father's heart surgeon for example, was in complete shock when he heard our news. He took me aside and said that he did not understand how I could leave; that he would never be prepared to live anywhere where there might be even one anti-Semite alive. Like many others he believed that Jews can only safely live in Israel"
Avigal Arbanel: The Charter of the Israeli State.
Israel's establishment united the scattered Mizrahim and other parts of world Jewry. Nevertheless, the Mizrahim, which includes the Sephardim Jews who trace their heritage to the Golden years in Spain before the Catholic Reconquest, have had their path in history halted; their heritage is becoming a fading memory. The Jews are now divided between the western, or Ashkenazi Jews, and the eastern, or Israeli Jews. The two Jewish worlds have little relation to one another from the immediate past, no common objectives in the present and no foreseeable common identification for the future.
History shows that a relative minority of Jews left their homes and immigrated to Israel as ardent Zionists. The Economist (Jan.11, 2007) mentions that only 17% of American Jews regard themselves as pro-Zionist and only 57% say that "caring about Israel is a very important part of being Jewish." The term 'Jewish nation' has never been adequately defined and Israel has not been accepted as being the definer of Jewish morality and culture or the creator of the Judaic atmosphere.
It is becoming difficult to clarify 'Who is an Israeli?' According to the Israel Statistical Abstract 2007, 1.875 million Israeli Jews are 2nd generation Israelis (those who have an Israel born father), which is not much more than the 1.4 million Israeli Arabs, most of whom trace their Israel ancestry back several generations. Israel's Arab nationality is almost equal to the Jewish nationality, if nationality considers at least two generations of native born Israelis and also considers that some of the 1.875 million 2nd generation Israelis live outside the nation. Jewish immigration to Israel has almost ceased, maybe 20,000 each year, and Jewish emigration from Israel has greatly increased. Many immigrants from the former Soviet Union have returned to Russia and Germany now has more than 100,000 Jews. Israel claims 5.4 million Jews, and officially admits 600,000 live outside the country. That statistic might be deflated – a figure of 1.5 million might be more accurate. Nevertheless, Israel behaves as if it speaks for world Jewry, but does not represent a major portion of the world's 15 million Jews.
By its Law of Return, Israel freely welcomes all Jews. The Israeli state calls all Jews to a land, but has not established a homeland to which a sufficient number of Jews are presently answering the call. So, if Israel has not become what it was intended, a homeland of the Jewish people, what is it?
Many arguments can define the status of Israel. Perceived from an Israeli viewpoint, it is a home for the Jewish people. Perceived from a Palestinian perspective, it is a land denied to the Palestinian people. To the Palestinians, the French who moved to Algeria, the Boers who moved to Africa, and the English who came to America were all considered settlers. The Israelis in the West Bank are considered settlers. The Jews in Israel are living on usurped Palestinian lands and Israel cannot entertain more Jewish immigration without seizing more Palestinian land, which it is doing daily. If most Jews arrived for mainly economic and political reasons and not specifically to be part of a Jewish homeland or to express self-determination, aren't they also settlers? Don't the facts allow a Palestinian perspective that considers Israel as a colonial enterprise?
The suffering due to occupation and a perspective of Israel as a colonizer drives the Palestinians to a war of liberation. Hope for success is enhanced by Israel's inability to accumulate a sufficient mass of world Jewry to labor for a Jewish homeland. Hopelessness that foresees failure is dictated by Israel's daily violent and cruel acts that grind the Palestinians into dust. Despite attempt to portray the conflict as a war on terrorism, the ferocity of the Israel campaign certifies it is fighting a liberation movement with tactics designed to completely destroy Palestinian life. Israel uses the most aggressive means to prevent a war of liberation from derailing its chosen destiny.
So, what could happen?
If Israel succeeds in destroying Palestinian life, everyone loses. The anticipated homeland for the Jews will continue to be an economic way station for some Jews, Israel will still confronted by antagonists throughout the Middle East and the Palestinians who nourished and tilled a land for centuries will be vanquished. The continued repression of the Palestinians to a final denouement will increase resentment and attacks against all Jews for eternity. If the Palestinians succeed in their liberation, not everyone wins. Expectations of a greater Israel will be crushed, but human life will not be crushed. Israel will no longer be able to pursue a homeland of the Jews, but that project has already caused several conflagrations and seems to be doomed to failure. Any chance for success will involve additional horrendous consequences to the Palestinians and probably the entire world.
Contrary to predictions, it is likely that a new democratic state that permits re-entry of Palestinians to their usurped lands and provides representation and equality for all of its citizens, Jew and non-Jew, will emerge. The Palestinian masses are not religious or political extremists and their attachment to Hamas is mainly due to Hamas' lack of corruption and to its welfare institutions. Jews who fear losing a majority status and envisage danger to their welfare might emigrate. Is that trade-off as punishing as the present arrangement of constant strife and probable extinction of the Palestinians? It is possible that many Palestinians will also exit the Holy Land; finally possessing a national identity and a national passport that enables them to emigrate.
If the Palestinians have a justifiable cause and are liberated, will the condition of the Jews in other nations, who are still the overwhelming main body of the Jewish politic, change appreciably? Hardly likely, except there will probably be less anti-Jewish feeling and less attacks on Jewish institutions. The condition of the Jews in Israel will change from a dominant position to a shared equal position. The world condition will change immeasurably for one simple reason; a major step to bring peace to the Middle East and reduce international terrorism will have been taken.
Dan Lieberman is the editor of Alternative Insight, a monthly web based newsletter.
In the last eight years, Dan has written many articles on the Middle East conflict, which have circulated on websites and media throughout the world.
He can be reached at alternativeinsight@earthlink.net
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